Yeah, we have rednecks and moonshiners in southern Pennsylvania.
Posted on 10/30/2015 11:59:22 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
The massive Army blimp that broke free from its mooring and drifted from Maryland to Pennsylvania is "actually still deflating," a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
"I am not able to give you the mechanics of exactly how they're deflating it," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis.
The blimp traveled almost 200 miles north at 30 miles per hour, reaching an altitude of 16,000 feet before it lost altitude and speed, landing in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Another Pentagon spokesman confirmed reports that the 240-foot blimp was shot down, but did not know how close to the ground the blimp was when it happened.
It is not clear who shot down the blimp.
(snip)
As for the blimp itself, Pentagon officials say it's too early to know how much damage it suffered, and how much it will cost to repair.
(snip)
Davis said one rough estimate was $235 million for each blimp.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Expensive surveillance equipment.
These things don’t just “break loose.”
Yeah, we have rednecks and moonshiners in southern Pennsylvania.
I am sure, in the private sector, if a $235 million asset got away for going on 7 hours with no one noticing, someone would be fired.
WTH do we need with a $235 million blimp, anyway? What is the purpose of it? What is the benefit of it? Why is no one in the media asking these questions?
State police used shotguns to shoot down wayward military blimp that cut loose and drifted across Pennsylvania http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3295818/Could-weeks-untangle-wayward-military-blimp-Pennsylvania-woodland-state-police-use-shotguns-deflate-it.html
You should read all the jokes on social media - the veterans sites are having a ball...
saw a video of it coming down...looked like a big condom, something you’d see in a Woody Allen movie &^)
What took so long to make the shoot down decision? They’re prepared to shoot down a commercial airliner with hundreds of passengers on board if need be, what’s the delay with an unmanned, empty blimp? And what’s $200+M taxpayer among friends?
When this happens around our house, the aerostat deflates automatically near the site.
http://www.acc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123272558
I live in the Baltimore area, and these grotesqeuries have been in the air, visible for many miles, since the springtime. If you live in a place where they don’t exist (and I think Maryland is the only place that has them), you can’t imagine how unnerving it is to see them endlessly hovering over you. They are ugly, vaguely frightening and 100 percent unnecessary. Not a day has passed since they’ve been up when I haven’t wished I owned a rocket launcher. I hope the breakaway this week grounds them for good.
I have my suspicions...
It is one of several used to monitor the east coast periphery for cruise missile launches and low trajectory missile launches.
If they shoot it down so that it is deflating slowly then the technical package may hit the ground with little damage. Repair the blimp, touch up the tech package, attach a reinforced tether and you’re back in business for less than $5 million or so.
If the technical package hits the ground with major damage then you are looking at a lot more money.
Why, keeping the rulers in the capital safe from the people in the districts, of course.
I have no clue why the blimp costs that much, but we used them in Iraq and Afghanistan for long-range surveillance for FOB security and aerial retransmission.
Did the tether break, or did it just run off the end of the reel?
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